Mustangs advance to 4A title tilt

Wednesday

May 30, 2012 at 12:11 AMMay 30, 2012 at 3:11 AM

KLAMATH FALLS — Clutch hits by Joe Wardle and Gregory Hurd keyed Hidden Valley's four-run outburst in the top of the seventh and the Mustangs narrowly avoided disaster in the bottom of the inning to beat Skyline Conference rival Henley 5-4 Tuesday in a wild Class 4A state baseball semifinal.

KLAMATH FALLS — Clutch hits by Joe Wardle and Gregory Hurd keyed Hidden Valley's four-run outburst in the top of the seventh and the Mustangs narrowly avoided disaster in the bottom of the inning to beat Skyline Conference rival Henley 5-4 Tuesday in a wild Class 4A state baseball semifinal.

The victory earns the sixth-seeded and 15th-ranked Mustangs (17-6) a spot in the championship game for the first time in school history. Hidden Valley, which finished third in the Skyline, will face top-ranked Ontario (20-7) on Saturday at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer. Ontario beat North Valley, another Skyline Conference team, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Wardle and Hurd each came through with two-run singles to help the Mustangs open up a 5-1 lead in the seventh. That proved to be just enough after Henley scored four runs of its own, all with two outs, and had the tying run on first base when Hurd struck out Henley No. 3 hitter Jon Guzman to end the game.

Hurd went the distance on the mound, striking out five while allowing four runs on six hits to improve to 11-0. Henley starter Jesse Hilyard surrendered three runs on six hits and two walks in 61/3 innings before giving way to Guzman, who gave up two runs on three hits in the final two-thirds of the inning.

Hurd was 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs, Wardle was 1-for-2 with three RBIs and Kody Garrison was 2-for-3 with two runs.